


Come a Little Closer

by edgarallenhoe



Series: The Life and Times of Iron Maiden [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Sushi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 03:16:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4123753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgarallenhoe/pseuds/edgarallenhoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're not supposed to fall in love with your friends, right? Particularly one who's also a member of the Avengers, and your best friend's brother, and has a date tonight. Well, Quinn Rosen has never seen herself as the brightest crayon in the box. Will her crush on Pietro Maximoff remain unrequited? Or will the silver-haired man come to his senses and look at what's right in front of him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come a Little Closer

Quinn was finally getting along with Pietro. They had been completely, one hundred percent civil towards each other. More than civil really. They were starting to become really good friends. When they weren’t on a mission, they were down in the gym training together, or making late-night food runs, or just lazing about in comfortable silence. The Maximoff twins were basically glued to her side now, and she loved everything about being their friend. Sometimes, though, she felt like she wanted more with Pietro.

These were dangerous thoughts to have. When she had been told the rules for becoming part of the team, one of them had been “no fraternization.” She had thought that wouldn’t be a problem until Pietro and her had finally made peace. Now, she couldn’t seem to get the silver-haired boy’s lopsided grin out of her head. No one really noticed anything unusual about her behavior, they just thought their near-constant companionship was just making up for all the arguments and bad behavior. She had decided not to act on anything. Even if they did get around the rule, their break-up would be messy and awkward if it happened. In addition, she didn’t even know if Pietro felt the same way.

One day, she had just gotten back from a particularly grueling three day mission in Venezuela. It had been hot and sticky, and bullets had been whizzing past her for hours. She smelled like smoke and sweat, and all she wanted to do when she got back to the tower was take a shower. She didn't make it that far, though, flopping down on the couch in the living room, still in her uniform.

“Rough day, Quinn?” a thick Sokovian accent asked her. She lifted her head and saw Pietro grinning in the doorway, munching on an apple. He looked incredibly handsome, as usual. His silver hair was tousled and he had just the right amount of stubble on his face. He never looked dirty or unkempt, his appearance always seemed very deliberate. She shook her head, she needed to stop thinking about this.

“More like rough week,” she groaned and flopped her head back down onto a pillow.

“Come now, it can’t have been that bad, fetiță*.” He was suddenly seated on the floor beside her, staring intently at her face. She breathed in his cologne, finding it incredibly intoxicating. Focus Quinn, she thought to herself.

“Let’s just say I’m never going back to Venezuela. On top of HYDRA’s presence there, the building we were trying to hold burnt down in the end, and a lot of people didn’t make it,” she shuddered as she remembered their screams, tears threatening to escape. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, lightly rubbing it.

“It is okay, Quinn. You did the best that you could.” He was being unusually kind to her, not that she was complaining. She needed it after the past few days, and perhaps he could sense that.

“Thanks, but I need to shower. I stink,” she said as she pushed herself off the couch.

“I was not going to say anything, but you do smell pretty bad.” He grinned playfully as she glared at him.

“You’re the worst, Pietro.” She stomped down the hallway, pretending to be angry with him. When she got to her room, she took a deep breath and grinned like a madwoman. No! She shouldn’t be thinking these kinds of thoughts.

“Dammit hormones, quit betraying me,” she muttered to herself. Her clean clothes were laying on her bed, and she grabbed them and stripped off her sticky leather suit. She trudged into the shower, now feeling even more drained. It was only 9 AM, she figured she could just go to bed once she got out of the shower.

The warm water felt extremely cleansing. It seemed to wash off all the stress of the mission and clear her head about Pietro. She was in there for a good half an hour, just soaking up the calming effects of the hot water. When she stepped out and put her clothes on, she made a beeline for the bed. She was unconscious in seconds, and only woke up at 7 PM because someone was pounding on her door.

“What do you want?” she called groggily from her nest of blankets and pillows.

“It is Wanda, I was just wondering if you wanted to do something fun tonight,” came the muffled response.

“Yeah, give me two seconds.” She sat up and scratched her head. Yawning, she got up and made her way over to open the door.

“Your hair is… Beautiful, Quinn.” Wanda was stifling giggles when she saw the curly mass seated on top of the younger girl’s head.

“Laugh it up, Wanda.” Quinn turned around and went straight for a hairbrush and some mousse. Wanda sat on the edge of her bed and watched her try to tame the beast on her skull.

“So what’d you have in mind?” Quinn asked as she tried to get the brush through her hair.

“Well, I was thinking that we could go to that Italian place down the street that you like so much, and then we could come back and watch a movie?”

“Sure, but why don’t we go somewhere else? Your turn to pick.” Wanda beamed and thought about it for a moment.

“How about the sushi restaurant a few blocks away then?” Quinn didn’t have the heart to tell Wanda she hated sushi. She was sure there would be something on the menu she could eat, though, so she sucked it up. As soon as she tamed her hair, she threw on a jacket. Wanda ran to her room to grab a coat as well, so Quinn made her way out to the living room. Sitting on the couch was a very well-dressed Pietro Maximoff.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked, grinning. Pietro turned, looking a bit startled at the intrusion. He looked as though he had been deep in thought.

“I’m going out tonight, fetiță,” he said, standing to face her. She sucked in a sharp breath, but forced the smile to stay on her face.

“With who? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”

“Do you remember the ice cream place in Chicago? The one with all the interesting flavors?”

“... Yes.” She remembered all too well the pretty blond girl behind the counter. They were complete opposites, and she kept noticing her making eyes at Pietro.

“The girl behind the counter, Catherine, I am taking her out for deep dish pizza, something I have never had before. We hit it off a few days ago, and I asked what was fun to do in her city. She told me and suggested we go together.” Every word felt a bit like a punch in the gut. He’s still your friend, she thought, nothing will ruin that at least.

“Well, I hope you have fun on your date,” she said, unable to hold the smile anymore. Wanda had finally wandered out of her room and had just entered the room. She felt the tension, even without her powers. Quinn grabbed her arm and turned toward the elevator.

“Bye Pietro, see you later,” she mumbled as the doors were shutting. The last thing she saw was his confused expression.

“What was that about? What has happened?” Wanda looked a bit frenzied as she said this, hoping Quinn and Pietro didn’t hate each other again.

“Your brother has a date,” was all Quinn said about it.

“You… You are romantically interested in him? Do you mind if I…?” Her question trailed off. Quinn nodded, knowing what she wanted to do. She focused on the floor numbers above the door to the elevator. They weren’t even close to the ground yet. Suddenly, she could feel another presence in her mind. She was reliving what had just happened, all the gut-wrenching feelings, the false expressions, everything. When it was over, she turned to see Wanda, who looked hurt.

“Why have you not told anyone?” She looked sincerely concerned for the dark-skinned, freckled girl next to her.

“It would jeopardize everything we’ve worked for. We’re friends now, I don’t want to ruin that by bringing other feelings into the mix. And Fury said ‘no fraternizing.’ I don’t want to be a rule-breaker,” she murmured, looking downtrodden.

“I cannot believe this. You should not have kept this bottled up. I had no idea, but… My brother is an idiot if he does not reciprocate these feelings.”

“He doesn’t. He calls me ‘fetiță.’ You told me that meant ‘little girl.’ He thinks of me as a child, nothing more.” They were finally approaching the ground floor. “Look, I don’t want this to ruin the night. Let’s just forget about it. It was never going to happen anyways.”

Quinn looked so upset that Wanda complied, not wanting to see her this way anymore. They chatted about other things, missions and different teammates as they walked to the restaurant. Quinn’s mood did not improve all that much, but she put on a nice show for Wanda’s sake. After two hours at the sushi place, she had almost repressed what had just happened with Pietro.

They walked back in companionable silence, their stomachs full of sushi (more rice than sushi, in Quinn’s case). They took the elevator up and kicked off their shoes in the living room.

“You pick the movie, Quinn. Give me a good American film,” Wanda said. After a moment of searching through the DVD collection, Quinn surfaced with one in her hands.

“Okay, let’s watch ‘The Notebook.’ It’s one of the most well-known love stories that Americans have. I know what you’re thinking, by the way, and I’m totally fine. I’m tough, Wanda!” She reassured the brunette with a smile and popped the disk in. The witch looked a tiny bit skeptical, but allowed her to press play.

By the end of the movie, Quinn was an absolute wreck. She assured Wanda that she always cried when she watched movies like this. Wanda continued watching to appease the younger girl, but she was slowly falling asleep. The old couple in the movie had just died peacefully in their bed, and Quinn was almost bawling as the credits rolled across the screen. She was hiccuping as she heard the elevator doors open. Wiping her eyes, she turned to see who was there. She felt like her heart had leapt into her throat when she saw Pietro waltzing in.

“Quinn, what is wrong?” has asked, noticing the tears on her face. Wanda hadn’t stirred beside her, but she still shushed the blue-eyed man walking towards her. She stood and herded him into the kitchen.

“Your sister’s asleep, we were watching ‘The Notebook,’” she explained as he looked at her bemusedly.

“So why are you crying?” He reached to wipe the tears off her cheek but she quickly stepped back.

“It’s just a really sad movie, I’m okay. How was your date?” He noticed the grimace that she hadn’t thought she’d made.

“It was…” he trailed off. It had actually been wonderful until the very end. Catherine was funny and sweet, she laughed at his jokes, and wanted basically the same things he did. But he had realized something toward the end: he wanted someone else. Someone young and bright, who called him out on his bullshit, someone passionate who shared his interests, someone he had grown very close to in the past few months.

“It was horrible. Catherine and I just did not ‘click,’ as you Americans say. She was nice, but we will probably not go out again,” he finally said a bit lamely. He saw her nod a bit at that, and he wondered what exactly was going on in her head.

“Actually, that is not the truth,” he said, startling even himself a bit. “Catherine was lovely. She was kind and had a good sense of humor. But I did not want to be with her. I want to be with you, Quinn.”

Quinn just stared at him dumbly, her mouth hanging open a bit.

“But you… How could you? You always tease me and call me a child.” Her heart was racing and she tried to make eye contact but couldn’t.

“Fetiță is just a pet name. I adore you, and I want to be with you. You are beautiful and kind. You are compassionate. You are resourceful and powerful. You do not allow me to be less than myself. I feel myself being more honest around you than anyone, except perhaps my sister. You hold me accountable, and I want you as more than just a friend. If you do not want this as well, I will completely understand, as I am difficult to be around sometimes.” He grinned weakly at the end and hung his head a bit, waiting for her response.

Quinn was dumbfounded. Was Wanda unconsciously manipulating her mind? Was she asleep? She pinched her hand to make sure. Pietro looked at her, a bit confused.

“I thought this was a dream. I… I definitely want this, too Pietro. I want to be with you.” She sounded confident, but she felt like her legs were legitimately turning into jello. His eyes lit up at her words, and he wrapped his arms around her middle and swung her around, laughing.

“Pietro!” She laughed along with him. He set her down but kept his arms wrapped around her. She threw her own around his neck. “What about the rule, though? We’re not supposed to have a relationship.”

“Damn the rules,” he murmured as he rested his forehead against her’s. She closed her eyes, breathing in his scent. When she opened them again, he was staring at her intently. She glanced down at his lips and back to his eyes. He began to smile at that, and started to close the gap between their lips. She met him in the middle, and their lips collided spectacularly. And by that, I mean that their teeth clicked together.

“Ow, shit Pietro.” Despite the pain in her front teeth, Quinn was giggling.

“That’s not how I thought that would go,” Pietro said, rubbing his upper lip.

“Well, let’s try again, then.” Quinn smiled and pulled him in towards her. This time, their lips met. It was chaste and beautiful, everything she imagined her first kiss would be. They were only connected for maybe ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Her face was warm and it felt like fireworks were going off in her stomach. It felt like electricity was rushing through her veins, just like every other time her and Pietro made physical contact.

“I can’t believe this, Pietro. I’m so… Happy.” She pressed her face into the crook of his neck as he held her against him.

“As am I, dragă mea*.”

*fetiță - little girl  
*dragă mea - my dear

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just assuming here that none of them know about Bruce and Natasha. Thanks for reading!


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